In mid November, 1944 , we
once again loaded up some LSTs and headed for the P.I. About 3 days later
we landed on Leyte beach and there we sat for 6 weeks spinning our
wheels. There were no air strips available for out Aircraft. During
that time we sat out a typhoon with 90 mph winds that flattened every tent in
the area - except ours and 3 others, which had been framed. We sweated
out a jap paratroop landing on an airstrip a mile inland from our camp.
Nobody got any sleep that night, but the Infantry made short work of them come
daylight. I spent about a week in the hospital with my second bout of
Dengue Fever, and shed another 15 lbs. For Christmas dinner we had canned
turkey. Oh yes, during those 6 weeks we got our first issue of
BEER. I guess after 3 years they figured we had earned a free
beer.

1

2

3

4

Capt. Robert Speith

1&2 -
These were taken on the trip from Hollandia to Leyte in mid Nov.
'43.

3 - Looking down on the beach where we
would spend the next 6 weeks spinning our wheels, because there were no air
strips available for our A-20s.

4 - Quite a difference from home.
At home there would be an auto sitting in from of a modest home with cedar or
asphalt shingles. Here we have an ox cart and thatched roofs.

5 - Capt. Robert Speith had been active in Boy
Scouts before the war. On a trip to Tacloban, we found this monument to the
Boy Scouts.